Your first weeks leading
You were good at the work. Now you have to lead the people doing it.
The step up to leading a team is the moment most advice abandons you. It tells you what good leadership looks like, not what to do on the morning a situation lands you’ve never handled before. What’s Next? is built for exactly those mornings.
One free sample, open to everyone, no card, no sign-up.
The jump nobody really prepares you for
Being good at the work is what got you promoted. It’s also the thing you now have to do less of, while the actual job (the people, the decisions, the moments) turns out to be made of situations no one trained you for. You inherit a team mid-flight. Someone needs feedback you’ve been dreading. A decision has to land today and the room can’t agree.
None of those are topics you can study your way out of in the moment. They’re situations, and a situation needs a Playbook, not a chapter.
What new managers hit in the first weeks
These are the situations new leaders meet soonest. Each one is a Playbook, the moment named, the stance to choose, the tools in sequence, and the leaders who’ve stood there before:
- Inherited team, you’ve got a team and you don’t yet know what they should be working on.
- New starter, someone joined on Monday and you haven’t onboarded them.
- After a bad manager, you’re taking over a team that’s just had a bad one.
- Difficult feedback, you owe someone a hard conversation and you’ve been putting it off.
- Falling morale, the mood has dropped and you can’t tell why.
- One blocker, one person is holding everyone else up.
Why this fits when you’re new to leading
When you’re experienced, you’ve built your own playbook the slow way, one hard situation at a time, over years. New leaders don’t have the years yet, and the situations don’t wait for them. A Playbook hands you the worked-through version of a moment the first time you meet it, so your first attempt has the benefit of everyone who attempted it before you.
It won’t make the decision for you. Every Playbook is a choice between two stances, and the call is yours. But you’ll be making it with the ground mapped, not in the dark.
Start with the situation in front of you
Open the one Playbook you need this week, or take the whole Library for the year ahead at the Founders’ rate. Read the free sample first, no card, no sign-up.
Questions new leaders ask
I’ve never led before, is this too advanced?
It’s the opposite of advanced theory. Each Playbook is one concrete situation with a clear next move, which is exactly what helps most when you’re new and the moment is already happening.
Do I need the whole Library straight away?
No. You can buy the single Playbook for the situation in front of you, or subscribe for the full set. Pricing is on the subscribe page.
Can I read one before I pay?
Yes, one Playbook is open in full to everyone, no card and no sign-up. Read it here.
What is a leadership playbook, exactly?
One real situation, worked through end to end, where you stand, the choice in front of you, the tools in order, and the precedents. More on the format here.